I really liked it a lot. The rules are simple, the gameplay is deep and the miniatures are very nice.

The theme seemed very far fetched to me, though. A world of elephants and rhinos? Moveable mountains? Really? Perhaps a bit strange to people who are not very fond of hallucinogenic drugs..

Well, I decided to build the game by myself.

Fat creatures moving fat things, right?

It didn't take much time to find a good theme, but actually building the game took me almost two months in the end.

I liked the idea of brewers pushing around some barrels.

The name QUARRELS over BARRELS suddenly popped up on my mind while I was walking through the woods and carving the first worker figurine.

Here is the story of my variant of the game:

There are two breweries: the blue one and the red one. Both of them have a long family tradition. Due to the general economic situation, it's very hard for them to survive and not to be swallowed by one of the big enterprises. To stay in the black, they even have to bottle other kinds of beverages, such as wine and whiskey. The fact that they are neighbours really doesn't help to lower the tension.

I don't have a clue why they don't try to trick or nobble each other...whether it's some kind of code to keep up their family honour or whether they are just too drunk to be clever...I suppose it's the latter.

Anyway, they agreed on being fair to each other. Whenever there is need for booze and a big order or a contract to be fought for, be it a new supermarket, a festival, a hotel or even just a party, they proclaim a contest and send their workers to the pallets in the backyard between the two breweries. These lads are the heroes of their companies, as they take responsibility for their brewery's future.

There are three different barrels on the pallets. The team that manages to push one of them off the pallets first wins the competition. The winning team's brewery gets the contract...and the team may celebrate and taste the liquid their barrel contains. It could be beer, wine or whiskey.

This is my only modification of the original SIAM rules so far: the winner MAY enjoy a nice glass of what his lucky barrel contains, while the loser HAS TO drink as many glasses of a MIXTURE of the two remaining barrels as he has idle workers left in his brewery.

So here are some pictures of the game and some design steps:

The very beginning...a cigar box will serve as box and board

At a very early stage..

It took incredibly much time to carve and sand the 13 miniatures. They are really small. You can see that on the picture with the Euro coin.

the clone lab

The workers are finally painted and getting their felt

Painting the board onto the back of the cigar box..the fields are separated by carved gaps:

...and here is the finished game! The rules are taped under the top cover and can be pulled out at the side of the box/board. There is also some additional game material for my new rule

The front of the box...the typo doesn't work as expected...my wife didn't get it at the first glance..

The insert:

the three different beverages:

...and finally the two teams:

Just played it four times in a row...love it! Unfortunately, the pictures can't give you a good impression of what the whole thing looks and feels like in reality.

There are some more images in my gallery.

One of my next projects will be another rethemed version: BOUNCERS.

Two concurring security companies fighting for permanent work in a new club.Three jerks in the middle, 10 bouncers, flashy disco board.I'll try a technique..hope that it'll be done quicker this time...